Reflection on Sexuality and Sexual Orientation

In the article on Women’s sexuality and sexual orientation, Peplau and Garnets talk about the shift in believing that there is no normal with either heterosexual or homosexuals.  They state that homosexuality should not be categorized as a mental illness or not normal.   They specially talks about women’s sexual orientation in her article.

Peplau and Garnets say that there is little evidence that women’s sexual orientation is linked to biological factors.  They say that recent research has shown that women’s sexual orientation is linked to personal choice and social influence.  Especially they list education, religion, and acculturation as having the greatest impacts on aspects of women’s sexuality. (pg. 160). This is why some women’s sexual orientation changes over time.  This is true of bisexual, heterosexual, and homosexual women. They state that about 77% of lesbians had had one ore male sexual partners during their lifetime (pg 160). 

Peplau and Garnets also dismisses the myth that childhood experiences have a hand in shaping women’s sexual orientation. They say that research has failed to identity any links to events shaping a woman toward lesbian or bisexual.

I really like this article by Peplau and Garnets.  The point I get from there article is that love, intimacy, and environment are the important factors for women’s sexual orientation.   Women’s sexual orientation is fluid and may change over time and is influenced by society.  Within society there are many factors that determined women’s sexual orientation.

I have read Sam's post on The Biology of the Homosexual, which I feel kind of contradicts some of the things that Peplau and Garnets talk about in there article.  I will have to read Lancaster's article to see how they differ.  I am wondering if that article talks more about men's sexual orientation because Peplau and Garnets state there are differences in what shapes women's  and men's sexual orientation.

I also liked the heterosexual questionnaire.  The questionnaire really makes you reflection on sexual orientation. I do not know what caused my heterosexuality or if it will change over time.  How silly some of these questions seemed to me.  “Would you want your children to be heterosexual, knowing the problems they’d face?” “What do you think caused your heterosexuality?”  These questions are often asks to lesbians and gays and I have gained a better insight into how unfair and meaningless these questions really are.

Reading 16: Peplau, Linda D., Garnets, Linda D – A New Paradigm for Understanding Women’s Sexuality and Sexual Orientation

Reading 17: Rochlin, Martin – The Heterosexual Questionnaire